Are you trying too hard?

The human mind works in two parts, the conscious part and the subconscious part. Both parts constantly work. While we are pretty much aware of the existence and power of our consciousness, the real forces and power within our subconscious mind remain well hidden – even though the subconscious mind has a huge impact on us when it comes to achieving our goals. Read this blog and learn more about it.  

Have an Open Mind

When you set a firm intention to work towards a specific goal and start taking steps forward, you may also find people or particular situations begin to change around you and re-align themselves. You will find your awareness refocusing and seeing things that you might otherwise never notice. For instance, you may be doing something completely unrelated to your goal but unexpectedly, you come by a product, a place or a person that triggers a solution to the problem you were dwelling on.

Often, the answer to your problem is just around the corner but you cannot see it. Have you ever found yourself with a dilemma or issue which you just could not figure out? Then, after much worrying you went to bed, only to wake up the next morning with a new idea or a fresh perspective? This is because our unconscious minds are able to ‘tune in’ to notice all the possibilities around us, when given a chance to relax and let go. When this kind of thought process occurs naturally, we call it a sudden insight or gut feeling.

Don’t try too hard!

However, instead of relaxing and allowing our subconscious to work for us we usually, do the opposite. We try extra hard and get overly stressed, which inhibits our ability to ‘think outside the box’. For instance, I am sure you have had this experience: You are talking about a film with someone and try to remember the name of a movie star. The name is on the ‘tip of your tongue’ but remains just out of reach. No amount of head scratching seems to help. Then, you give up and do something else, and suddenly, the name pops up out of nowhere!

Many psychological studies have shown that, when you focus on something and relax the mind, your brain becomes more ‘habituated’ to that thing. The ‘Reticular Activating System’ is the part of your brain that selects relevant information and then allows it into your conscious awareness10. In other words, whatever you choose to focus on, will be brought to your attention more often.

Your subconscious mind is an enormous resource which, you have probably never been taught how to use. It is an extremely clever tool that often gets ignored and left unused throughout our adult lives. However, the good news is, that you can learn to re-awaken this natural intuitive sense that can bring you some of the most creative solutions.

Keep Practicing

Simply think of the issue, distract yourself and let go. Then, come back to it after a while. In the same way that you exercise your physical body, this will exercise and develop your creative mental abilities.

This article is based on the following eBook:  “Goal Keeping“, by Nazish S. Qazi